[IAEP] [realness] a school is not a building

[Dr. Gerald Ardito]

I think back to the various work (especially Piaget, Vygotsky, and Papert)
that investigates learning as a social phenomenon.
The XO Laptops and Sugar derive directly, in my humble opinion, from these
principles, especially Papert's concept of Constructionism.
The issue for me, then, is not schools versus laptops (or some other
technology), but how these devices and their software can be used to shape
the learning environment itself.
I have seen classrooms in my school change (in terms of student
independence) as a result of the students being deeply engaged with the XOs
and Sugar. This change has been reflected in both the students and their
teachers.
I think more focus should be spent on this ecosystem of learning.

Best,
Gerald

On Sun, Dec 5, 2010 at 8:51 PM, Blake Elias <blakeelias at gmail.com> wrote:

> It's not that Ministries of Education should *stop* their core
> activities, but another possibility to consider before *starting*.
>
> A physical school where children can learn and work together is
> wonderful.  In some situations where it's a struggle to build a
> physical school, where it really may be a dichotomy between
> buildings/laptops because of the expense, maybe they want to make
> digital collaboration their main goal instead of building with brick
> and mortar.
>
> Blake Elias
>
> On Sun, Dec 5, 2010 at 6:47 PM, Edward Cherlin <echerlin at gmail.com> wrote:
> > What he said. I hate false dichotomies. They abound in discussions of
> > education and in the politics of education, indeed in any situation
> > where the more extreme the position, the more likely it is to be
> > heard.
> >
> > On Sun, Dec 5, 2010 at 18:04, Ian Thomson <IanT at spc.int> wrote:
> >> Personally, I think the whole approach is wrong. You will never convince
> >> Ministries of Education to stop their "core" activities just because
> >> there are laptops.
> >>
> >> The better approach is to show how laptops can enhance education in
> >> schools.
> >> This should not be an "either/or" approach. We can do both.
> >>
> >> As a simple example, children can leave the school earlier after
> >> suitable teaching and complete work on the laptops at home or other
> >> locations. This will free up the school to take a second shift of
> >> students.
> >> Teachers can restructure their teaching to have groups working together
> >> to learn, so freeing them up to take more students.
> >>
> >> Ian Thomson
> >> ICT Outreach Section
> >> Economic Development Division
> >> Secretariat of the Pacific Community
> >> B.P. D5 - Noumea Cedex - 98848
> >> New Caledonia
> >>
> >> Phone +687-265419
> >>
> >> Fax +687 26 38 18
> >> http://www.spc.int
> >>
> >> -----Original Message-----
> >> From: iaep-bounces at lists.sugarlabs.org
> >> [mailto:iaep-bounces at lists.sugarlabs.org] On Behalf Of Bernie Innocenti
> >> Sent: Monday, December 06, 2010 8:36 AM
> >> To: Timothy Falconer
> >> Cc: olpc-haiti at lists.laptop.org; grassroots OLPC;
> >> olpc-open at lists.laptop.org; Squeakland List; Maho 2010; IAEP;
> >> ht2011-winter at waveplace.org
> >> Subject: Re: [IAEP] [realness] a school is not a building
> >>
> >> On Sun, 2010-12-05 at 15:18 -0500, Timothy Falconer wrote:
> >>> Hi all,
> >>>
> >>> A favor:  help me make this case (or refute it) as we prepare once
> >>> more for Haiti ... "spend money on training & laptops instead bricks
> >>> and mortar".
> >>>
> >>> http://waveplace.com/news/blog/archive/001035.jsp
> >>
> >> It's a beautiful thought that touches deep into my hacker spirit, but
> >> the conclusion seems weak: what is it that we are advocating for? Remote
> >> learning? Home-schooling? Having classes under a tree? It's unclear.
> >>
> >> The point that you were making with the military canteen vs cooking at
> >> home metaphor is that compulsory education doesn't follow individual
> >> inclinations. Then, the conclusion should state the proposed solution
> >> for this problem.
> >>
> >> --
> >>   // Bernie Innocenti - http://codewiz.org/
> >>  \X/  Sugar Labs       - http://sugarlabs.org/
> >>
> >> _______________________________________________
> >> IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!)
> >> IAEP at lists.sugarlabs.org
> >> http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
> >>
> >> _______________________________________________
> >> IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!)
> >> IAEP at lists.sugarlabs.org
> >> http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
> >>
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > Edward Mokurai (默雷/धर्ममेघशब्दगर्ज/دھرممیگھشبدگر ج) Cherlin
> > Silent Thunder is my name, and Children are my nation.
> > The Cosmos is my dwelling place, the Truth my destination.
> > http://www.earthtreasury.org/
> > _______________________________________________
> > IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!)
> > IAEP at lists.sugarlabs.org
> > http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
> _______________________________________________
> IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!)
> IAEP at lists.sugarlabs.org
> http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
>
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